The hyperthermia (or oncothermia) technology is being assessed by the Therapeutic Goods Administration, although Mrs Barlow plans to bring the equipment into the country and start treating patients with or without government backing.

“I’ve waited five-and-a-half years; I’m not waiting anymore,” Mrs Barlow said.

She aims to begin treating patients in Australia before the Rays of Hope Gold Medal fundraising ball, to be held on May 25.

The manufacturer and distributor have agreed to donate the equipment, with Mrs Barlow to pay for transport and an optional fee after three years to keep it.

While a home for the equipment is undecided, the machine will likely be located at the Prince of Wales Private Hospital in Sydney, where she is travelling this week to look at the rooms.

She also hopes to conduct a comparative study of the effectiveness of hyperthermia/oncothermia, when used in conjunction with traditional treatments such as chemotherapy, radiation and surgery, compared to the use of traditional methods alone.

The treatment involves heating the body or an area of the body to high temperatures, to weaken and destroy cancer cells.

Mrs Barlow estimates she could have about $130,000 behind her, with a recent fundraising event at Currabubula adding $6500 to her cause.

Some of this money will subsidise the cost of patients’ treatments, but she hopes it will eventually be put on Medicare, to allow her foundation to cover the gap and make it free for everybody.

She has the support of a number of professionals in the field, including Prince of Wales hospital’s radiation oncology director, Professor Michael Jackson, Professor Carl Munoz-Ferrada from the Gammasonics Institute, and radiologist Luke Baker, all of whom she recently went on a research tour to Korea with.

Mrs Barlow has been fighting to introduce hyperthermia/oncothermia to the country since the death of her husband, Ross, from cancer.

She said while the treatment had been around for about 40 years and was used in 14 countries, including Germany and the Netherlands, it was yet to be brought to Australia.

“I see oncothermia as mainstream, not experimental ... it’s an established procedure,” Mrs Barlow said.